1. A legal document giving official permission to do something
   - license [N. Amer], permit 
2. Freedom to deviate deliberately from normally applicable rules or practices (especially in behaviour or speech)
   - license [N. Amer] 
3. Excessive freedom; lack of due restraint
   "when liberty becomes licence dictatorship is near"; "the intolerable licence with which the newspapers break...the rules of decorum"
   - license [N. Amer] 
4. The act of giving a formal (usually written) authorization
   - license [N. Amer], permission, permit

1. Authorize officially
   - license, certify

Derived forms: licenced, licencing, licences

See also: licensee, licentious

Type of: authorisation [Brit], authorise [Brit], authorization, authorize, clear, empowerment, instrument, legal document, legal instrument, liberty, official document, pass

Encyclopedia: Licence

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